


Compartmentalization

by cynatnite



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Episode: s01e17 Turn Turn Turn, Gen, Spoilers, skyeward maybe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-10
Updated: 2014-04-10
Packaged: 2018-01-18 20:46:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1442269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cynatnite/pseuds/cynatnite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At SHIELD academy they teach you compartmentalization. Agent Grant Ward is very good at it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Compartmentalization

**Author's Note:**

> Character study of Agent Grant Ward following him revealing himself as Hydra.

Grant Ward remembered as a child going with his father to the bank on occasion. He’d trail behind him just a few yards as his father was taken to the back where the safe deposit boxes were stored. Grant would be told to sit in a chair and then he was ignored for the remainder of the visit. He would straighten a little as a safe deposit box was set on the table and he would stretch as much as he could to get a glimpse as his father opened the first one. His father would order him to sit quietly and not move. The one thing you never did was disobey Father. Grant would relax in the chair disappointed that his father refused to share what was inside.

When his father finished with one safe deposit box, he would ask for another. Grant never knew exactly how many there were. All he knew was that he was to sit quietly, watch and wait as his father went from one to another. Usually it was anywhere from three to five boxes. He sometimes would take a few things out, hand something off to his secretary or lawyer depending on who accompanied them that day. They never spoke to him during these visits, but it never stopped him from allowing his adventurous mind from guessing what surprises were stored in them.

So, now here he sat on this airplane and he felt like that little boy watching his father go from one safe deposit box to another. Even though his eyes never left the blood turning the grey floor dark red all he saw was the first safe deposit box being set in front of his father.

That one was the most obvious. One of the first ones he had seen when we walked onto the airplane ramp was Jemma Simmons. She had a bright smiling face, insatiable curiosity and a strong-willed streak that he had never known she possessed. He should’ve has seen it sooner when she refused to give up on the soldiers being controlled. She wanted to save them. Grant watched the lid close and then the key was turned before it was taken away.

Melinda May got closer to him than he had expected. When everything inside was beginning to break loose like a volcano on the verge of erupting, Grant had locked it down and with her, she made it easy. She was the rock that kept him grounded and from getting out of hand. She let him know that sanity still existed in the world and that he didn’t have keep his feelings on 24/7 lockdown. His gut twisted as that lid slammed down before anything could escape. Grant almost didn’t let that box get taken away from him.

Next was Leo Fitz. If anyone was full of surprises, it was Fitz. He was brilliant in every way possible. You never knew what Fitz was going to come up with next in the tech department. He always seemed more at ease in his lab taking things apart. Fitz probably was, but put him within any distance of anything mechanical and he could tell you its specs in a matter of minutes no matter the environment. Grant suddenly remembered that he had never told Fitz that he was one of the most capable field agents he had ever worked with and that he wished for a tenth of his courage himself. Grant couldn’t close his eyes as that box was locked away from him. He hated seeing it taken away.

The last one hurt the most. Skye had gotten to him from day one. She was stunning and not just in beauty. Her smile was fresh as if the sun had just risen over the trees. The beams of it warmed your soul just a little. Skye was everything he wasn’t. She was a rebel, a humanitarian, and not afraid to let the world see her emotions on her sleeve. While he was accustomed to keeping every aspect of himself on permanent lockdown, Skye was the complete opposite and that he admired. Skye not only made him smile when she beat him at Battleship, she also was the only person in the world that made him aware he was ticklish. Who does that? When that box was closed it was as if Grant’s heart was locked in with Skye inside of it. He felt a part of himself slip away as the metal safe deposit box was lifted and moved away out of eyesight.

Then they were leaving. _Wait_ , he remembered. Coulson. How could he fucking forget Coulson? That’s because there was no safe deposit box that could hold Phil Coulson. The further Coulson got from him, the louder his words in his ears rung. Nothing could drown them out, not even Garrett’s latest fish story about his ever bigger-than-life exploits.

“I trust you.”

There was no putting those three words in a box. Grant couldn’t box up that simple sentence. It was then that he made the decision not to. He deserved to hear the words over and over. That was a punishment he could live with and he allowed it to settle in his soul becoming a permanent part of himself.

Grant tore his eyes away from the bloodied floor and stared straight ahead. Everyone from the past year was now compartmentalized, locked up and put away in a place far away just like those safe deposit boxes.

END


End file.
